A researcher may use a high content imaging system (HCIS) to analyze phenotypical responses of biological cells to a treatment, such as, for example, exposure to particular substances and/or other environmental changes. Such responses may be visually distinct and may be observable in images acquired using fluorescent labeling and other techniques.
However, such responses may vary in accordance with the pathway involved in the response, cell tissue type, cell age, growing condition, and the like. The variety of possible responses requires the analysis of the images of cells be limited to a particular type of phenotypical response such as, for example, translocation of a protein from one location in a cell to another, expression or presence of a particular molecule, congregation or clumping of a molecule, and the like. Further, each type of phenotypical response that may be analyzed may be associated with a plurality of adjustable parameters that may be measured in images of such cells, and the presence or absence of such response may be indicated by a magnitude of such measured parameters. The quantity of the types of responses and the number of parameters that must be adjusted to quantify each type of response may pose a significant burden on a researcher because the researcher must identify the phenotypic type of response that occurs, and then manipulate the various parameters associated with such type to determine if such response did indeed occur.
Further, in some cases, it may not be practical or even possible to expose a homogenous population of target cells to a substance or environmental condition to be tested. In such cases, a heterogeneous population of cells that includes the target cells are exposed to the substance or environmental condition, images of the heterogeneous population are acquired, and such images have to be analyzed to determine if the particular target cell in the heterogeneous population exhibits a particular phenotypical response.